Transformers Prime: Season Four ON HIATUS
by Impressionsguy
Summary: Ignoring continuity of Predacons Rising and RiD 2015, Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Bulkhead and more are back against an old enemy who returns in a new form and threatens the future of both Earth and Cybertron with his army of Decepticons old and new.
1. Episode 1: Return to Earth

**Author's note:** Remember Predacons Rising and RiD 2015? Forget those! This story is a continuity where Prime got a proper fourth season instead of the rushed ending that it did. And I'll admit, after just doing G1 and an AU not set in any continuity, it'll be nice to tackle another one of my favorites.

* * *

Episode 1: Return to Earth

Optimus Prime followed his fellow Autobots to the space bridge, ready to return to Cybertron. He stopped and turned to the humans he had befriended on Earth... and Ratchet. One of his oldest friends and most trusted 'bots. As much as he knew he would miss the company of his friend, he knew Ratchet was right to stay here with the humans. Optimus gave a nod to the group as if to say farewell, and a smile crept across the stoic Autobot leader's face. With that, he turned and followed the other Autobots, ready to repair their home world.

 _Five years later..._

"My fellow Decepticons..." Starscream spoke as he stood before a group of beaten and battered Decepticons. Ever since the fall of Megatron and the revival of Cybertron, Starscream, Shockwave, and whatever Decepticons still remained online had fled to a planet not far from Cybertron, a volcanic planet known as Chaar. With no one else to lead, Starscream... less than reluctantly assumed that position. "Today it has been five years since Megatron, our leader perished at the hands of the Autobots, and since then they have been ruthlessly hunting down others of our kind. Locking them in stockades, executing them... The medic from my old team with Megatron hasn't been seen or heard from since the Autobots offed Megatron." He sighed. "But alas, as your leader, I will do what I can to tear the grasp the Autobots hold over Cybertron from them, and once more our home will be ours!" He exclaimed. Cheering erupted from the group in front of him, believing every word he spoke. Starscream bowed and left the group, resorting back to his chambers that he had fashioned from one of the caves on the planet. Once inside, he sulked down in a makeshift throne and sighed to himself.

"Command is no fun when all you have to command are grunts and half dead mechs on their last gallon of energon." He remarked, sulking down. Outside, Shockwave turned and walked into his chambers.

"I do hope I'm not interrupting anything." Shockwave said to the Decepticon leader.

"What do you want, Shockwave?" Starscream asked, not bothering to lift the hand covering his face.

"I've come to tell you that from what I have gathered, despite your speech, that morale is depleting... rapidly. I would heavily advise a course of action to repair that. An assault on a cargo ship perhaps." Shockwave explained. Starscream grumbled and looked up at the scientist.

"In our current state that would doom us all," Starscream replied. "Even their cargo ships are too heavily armed for our troops in their current state, and an attack would no doubt lead to their discovery of our base."

"Your response is... logical." Shockwave noted. "However I do advise that you should do something about the depleting morale... fast." He noted, turning and walking away, leaving Starscream alone once more. The air warrior pouted and looked up at the cave ceiling.

"Megatron... as much as I may have despised you... you were definitely better at handling these problems than I seem to be..." Starscream remarked, uttering words he never would have admitted to the face of his former leader.

The former leader in question? Laying at the bottom of the ocean on Earth. Vegetation grew over his body and the lifeless husk had been made a home to plenty of sea creatures. What Starscream, the Decepticons, or even the Autobots for that matter didn't know was... Bumblebee had missed. The Star Saber impaled Megatron, but only scraped his spark, sending him into a stasis lock, unable to move, see, or communicate, but very much alive in his thoughts.

"Five infernal years I have been stuck like this, no body, just... a voice." Megatron snarled inside his mind. "That imbecilic jet plane Starscream has probably run the Decepticons into the ground! Soundwave disappeared not long before my supposed demise, and Shockwave is... well... Shockwave seems to manage regardless of what is thrown upon him." He remarked. "But what of Megatron? Conqueror of worlds? Nothing! No troops to command, nothing but a voice with no response!" But this time, there was a response.

"Megatron, Megatron, Megatron..." A voice chuckled. That voice. Megatron knew that voice. "How the mighty seemed to have fallen." It was... Unicron.

"Unicron?" Megatron asked. "What are..."

"My blood has flown through your veins, in a way, we are one." Unicron answered. "I have listened to you moan and pout for the past five years, to be blunt, it has been insufferable."

"Five years you have listened to me?" Megatron asked. "And now you make yourself known?"

"I felt you may have been able to sense me." Unicron answered. "But alas, I gave you too much credit. You fell to an Autobot scout no less, so I suppose giving you the credit was my own fault."

"You decide to make your presence known merely to insult me?" Megatron asked with a sigh.

"No." Unicorn answered. "I made my presence known to give you an offer."

"What kind of offer?" Megatron asked.

"I am offering you a second chance, a new body." Unicron answered. "I shall fuse my lifeblood with yours and grant you a new body, a more powerful body, you will be stronger, faster, more alive." Megatron thought, surely this couldn't be without it's own price to pay.

"What's the catch?" Megatron asked.

"Your end of the bargain is that you are to do as I say, you may be commanding your army in physical form, but you will be doing my bidding." Unicron replied.

"And what could you possibly want?" Megatron asked.

"Ah ah... that part comes later." Unicron replied. "So... do we have a deal?" Megatron thought once more, the price for him was far smaller than he had assumed, this seemed like a perfect opportunity.

"I... accept your terms." Megatron nodded.

Up above, two fishermen sat on their boat, resting their chins in their hands as they sat waiting for their lines to be pulled on by fish. Suddenly, a boom erupted from the bottom of the ocean and the ocean lit up with luminescent purple for a fraction of a second, the two exchanged looks and looked out to the sea. Suddenly, crashing through the top of the ocean and into the air was a large purple robot, much like Megatron in shape, but a larger helmet with crown like spikes coming from the top. On his arm was a orange cannon, the robot grinned sadistically as he looked at his new body.

"Behold..." Unicron's voice echoed. "Galvatron."

"To Cybertron!" The Decepticon formerly known as Megatron bellowed, flying up into space. The two fishermen exchanged dumbfounded looks, unsure of what they had just seen.

"What on Earth was that!?" A fishermen exclaimed.

Galvatron hovered over Cybertron's atmosphere, looking over the thriving planet. But to him, something seemed off. "Odd... no signs of Decepticon signals, they seem to be emanating from another planet, Chaar." He remarked, flying over the planet to Chaar.

Down below, the Autobot Bulkhead sat in a room, monitoring the signals over Cybertron, but Galvatron managed to slip past him? How? Because Bulkhead wasn't paying attention, he had other matters on his mind. He looked over to the wall in his work station, on the wall was the Apex Armor disk, he had held onto it after Miko, his human partner, used it the day they beat Megatron. He liked to look at it from time to time to remember all the good times he had on Earth with Miko... with Team Prime. He hadn't seen most of the members of Team Prime since Cybertron's restoration was completed. Optimus Prime was now supreme commander over Cybertron with Ultra Magnus as his adviser, Optimus' role was was more of a figurehead thanks to how quiet the Decepticons had been, Ratchet stayed on Earth with Fowler and the kids, Bumblebee and Smokescreen had now enlisted into the elite guard, Arcee was training young bots aspiring to be espionage agents, and Wheeljack had been off planet still in search of other Autobots that may still be out there. There was only one familiar face from his days with Team Prime he still saw regularly...

"Knock knock." The familiar voice said, this was the now ex Decepticon, Knockout. Bulkhead nodded and looked back at the screens. "Oh, don't tell me, you're in another one of your moods again." Knockout chuckled, walking in.

"What are you doing here, Knockout?" Bulkhead asked. "Shouldn't you be in the medical ward?"

"You know I get bored there." Knockout replied, sitting down at a chair at the monitor screens next to Bulkhead. "I thought I'd visit an old chum."

"Old chum?" Bulkhead arched his brow. "You weaseled your way into the Autobot ranks after Megatron was destroyed, if it were up to me you'd be disassembled for spare parts."

"There's no need to be rude, we're all on the same team... now." Knockout replied. "Besides, you long for Earth, I can tell."

"Real perceptive." Bulkhead grumbled. "Look, if it's all the same to you, I just wanna be left alone."

"Fine." Knockout shrugged. "I guess I'll just go." He sighed dramatically as he left. Bulkhead sighed and looked back at the screen.

"Yep. No blips. Just like the past five years." Bulkhead muttered. Had he looked at the screen moments ago it would have been different, but since he was preoccupied, Galvatron managed to slip by. Setting a course straight for Chaar.

On Chaar, Starscream was meeting with one of his Decepticons, a tall and bulky blue and green Decepticon with a square faceplate and beaming red visor, with two large cannons mounted on his back. This was Starscream's head general, Onslaught.

"I figure we send an Autobot distress signal, say someone crashed here and needs repairs, rescue ships generally carry a bunch of energon cubes. We frag the bots on the ship, we get a bunch of energon and can wage an attack on the Autobots." Onslaught spoke to his leader.

"That's all well and good, Onslaught." Starscream answered. "But how do we fashion an _Autobot_ distress signal?"

"I..." Onslaught paused. "I don't know, I really specialize in blowing stuff up, not planning stuff." Starscream grumbled and sunk his head into his hands, about to speak. Before he could, Shockwave entered the room.

"Lord Starscream." He spoke. "There seems to be a spacecraft approaching. Allegiance unknown."

"Scrap." Starscream remarked, knowing if it was hostile his army had no chance of overpowering them. "Onslaught, assemble your crew, their probably the best asset we have at this given moment." He ordered his general.

"Yes Lord Starscream." Onslaught nodded with a salute, leaving to rally his subsidiary team of Decepticons, known as the Combaticons. Onslaught led the harty crew of warriors, the others consisted of Brawl, a green and brown trigger happy tank, Blast Off, a reckless purple and brown space shuttle, Swindle, an untrustworthy yellow and purple SUV who had a track record of selling Decepticon tech to the highest bidder, and Vortex, a sadistic interrogations expert with a gray and purple color scheme and a helicopter alternate mode. Starscream had encountered them not long after he and Shockwave fled Cybertron on a stolen Autobot cruiser. Starscream recalled the team from his time during the war for Cybertron and was more than happy to hae them once again on his side.

"Update on the vessel Lord Starscream." Blast Off spoke to Starscream. "It appears to be too small for anyone to pilot, it's a Cybertronian."

"Well... at least there's only one then." Starscream remarked. "Be ready on the offensive." He ordered the Combaticons. Starscream looked up to the ship now approaching, the shape of it looked eerily familiar to him, but it couldn't be him... it couldn't be.

The ship transformed and Galvatron landed, looking directly at the group of Decepticons ready to meet him, he glanced at the Combaticons, then settled his gaze at Starscream and Shockwave. Starscream's eyes widened and his wings drooped, he couldn't believe his eyes. It was Megatron! But how?

"Megatron? Is that you?" Starscream stammered nervously.

"It's _Galvatron_ now, Starscream..." Galvatron replied. "Shockwave, good to see you once again."

"It is very good to see you again, Lord Meg... Galvatron." Shockwave nodded.

"I trust Starscream hasn't run the Decepticons too far into the ground?" Galvatron asked as he walked with Shockwave.

"Nothing that cannot be repaired with your leadership," Shockwave replied. Starscream stayed behind where they anticipated Galvatron's arrival with the Combaticons. Grumbling slightly to himself, reminded by all the ways he despised Megatron suddenly.

"Boss seemed pleased to see you, 'Screamer." Swindle chuckled.

"It was wise of you not to protest when he usurped command from you," Vortex remarked. "Had you stood against it he would have blown you to dust."

"I don't think he even thought about standing his ground! He was frozen!" Brawl laughed.

"I thought you said Megatron was dead, now he's back with a new name and a neon paint job?" Onslaught pondered.

"Shut up, all of you." Starscream ordered. At that point, Galvatron hollered out to all Decepticons to meet him at once, the Comabaticons all exchanged looks before walking over to Galvatron, Starscream sighed and followed them.

"Fellow Decepticons," Galvatron spoke to the crowd, which really consisted of Starscream, the Combaticons, Shockwave, and three others, built similar to Starscream but in different colors. "For years now, we've been in hiding from the accursed Autobots, _I_ remember a time in which the Decepticons ruled Cybertron and the galaxy with an iron fist! I say it's time we take that rulership back!" He hollered, the Decepticons in the group erupted in cheering, all but one. Starscream.

"We form an attack tomorrow, a place Optimus Prime is sure to have his eye on." Galvatron chuckled. "Earth..."

Down on Earth, Ratchet punched in ground bridge coordinates inside of Hangar E, which triggered a portal. "Alright team, ground bridge is open, now get back here with that quantum nuclear engine." He instructed.

"Will do, Ratchet. Over and out." Jack's voice spoke through the monitor. Moments later, Jack, Raf, and Miko stepped through the ground bridge, carefully hauling the quantum nuclear engine with them. The ground bridge vanished and the three took their helmets off, revealing the now adult faces of the three.

"Good work." Agent Fowler spoke through a video call on the monitor. "This ought to prolong the arrival of World War III for a few more years. Over and out." He said as the video call ended.

"Won't they just be able to build another one?" Jack asked aloud.

"Not without the blueprints and schematics." Raf smirked, holding up a USB holding said information. Gaining applause from the others.

"Yeah! Good thinking Raf!" Miko exclaimed, giving him a congratulatory pat on the back.

"Good thinking, Rafael." Ratchet commended him. "Now, let's put this engine away where it... along with the continent, can be safe." He said, lifting the container that held the engine within. "Are you coming, Rafael?" He asked the human.

"Um, if it's all right with you Ratchet, I think I'm going to stay here for now." Raf replied. Ratchet understood, he nodded and walked off with the engine. Raf turned to Miko, who had already moved to the small lounge area set up in the hangar. Jack with her. Both of them seemed rather down despite the success of the mission, and Raf knew why.

"C'mon Miko," Jack said to her as Raf walked over. "You did great out there, and if he right now, he'd be so proud of you."

"I know that, Jack." Miko replied irritably. "I just miss him," She said, in reference to her old partner, Bulkhead. "I miss all of them, Bulk', Wheeljack, I even miss Ultra Magnus now and then." She said.

"I know how you feel." Raf said. "I miss them too."

"Yeah, you aren't the only one, Miko." Jack nodded. "I mean, you think we have it bad, think about Ratchet for a second, he's known them all longer than any of us have, saying goodbye to them must have been a lot harder for him."

"It was." Ratchet's voice answered above them. "Sorry to cut in on your conversation, I have excellent hearing." He said. "Optimus Prime and I have known each other for millions of years. Arcee, Bumblebee, and Bulkhead I knew for almost as long." He sighed. "But, I knew that what I was doing was right."

"How did you know?" Miko asked. Ratchet thought for a minute, unsure of what to say. Not knowing how to respond, he chose to reply in a very typical Ratchet fashion.

"What is this?" He asked. "An interview?" He scoffed, turning to walk away. As he walked, he thought for a minute, did he really know if he made the right choice? Now he was starting to have his doubts, acknowledging now that not seeing all his old friends affected him just as much as it affected Jack, Miko, and Raf. "Say..." He spoke aloud, formulating an idea.

"What?" Miko asked.

"What if... perhaps we could get Fowler's approval to take a temporary leave... would the three of you be interested in, oh I don't know, visiting Cybertron? I could get into contact with Optimus Prime, he'd be sure to alert Bumblebee and the others." Ratchet offered. "Only if you're interested, of course." Hearing this idea, all three of the humans' faces beamed, Miko especially, who jumped for joy.

"Really!?" She exclaimed. "Yes! I would _totally_ love that!" She said, running over to Ratchet, hugging his ankle excitedly. "Oh thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!" She exclaimed.

"Yap yap yap yap." Ratchet dismissed her. "We still need Fowler's approval, don't get too excited." He said, deep down knowing that Fowler would indeed approve of the team's leave. He was right, that evening he informed Fowler of his intentions and Fowler agreed with his idea. Ratchet contacted Optimus Prime about his intentions and Optimus was very pleased with the idea and would be sure to let the former members of Team Prime know.

The next day, Ratchet and the others prepared to fire up the bridge, which had been linked with the space bridge that currently orbited Cybertron. Upon arrival, they'd be greeted with a shuttle that would take them down to Cybertron.

"I do hope everyone is ready." Ratchet said as he typed in the coordinates, ready to fire up the bridge. Jack and Raf nodded, Miko however, looked around, seeming to have forgot something.

"Hold on! I forgot my camera, I wanna be sure to get some pics of this!" She said, running off to her quarters. "Don't leave without me, I'll be back in a minute!" She called. Ratchet sighed and waited, the space bridge had now been activated, awaiting Miko's return.

Meanwhile, Galvatron watched the large space bridge over Cybertron, the other Decepticons ready behind him. "Looks like we'll be taking the quicker way, huh boss?" Swindle remarked.

"Indeed. The coordinates match that of Earth." Galvatron nodded. "Decepticons! To the space bridge!" He ordered, the team flew forward, ready to go through to Earth. On the space bridge docks, two workers stood and waited for Ratchet and the humans to come through, both sharing a similar body type, stocky builds with a large hood over their heads, but with a differentiation in color, one was primarily orange with blue, the other blue and white. The blue one being slightly taller than the orange one.

"I tell you." The orange one complained to the other. "Four stinkin' stellar cycles we've been stationed up here after those bozos Bulkwad and Wheeljerk built this." He griped. "What did they tell us? ' _Guard the space bridge!_ ' That's it!" He exclaimed.

"Uhh... Huffer?" The blue one stammered, seeing the cluster of Decepticons approach.

"In all this time, nothing has come through here! Nothing! Certainly no Decepticons!" Huffer griped.

"Huffer!?" The blue one stuttered as the group got closer.

"Optimus wants this stinkin' thing guarded so bad, why ain't he up here!?" Huffer bickered. "No! He gets a cushy office job!" He exclaimed. "Hey, Pipes!" He called to the other. "Are you even payin' attention?" At this time, he noticed why he hadn't replied, Huffer ran up to beside Pipes, and stood in the same fear as his build twin.

"Decepticons..." Pipes remarked as Galvatron landed in front of them.

"Perceptive." Galvatron grinned as he grabbed the two smaller Autobots. "You can't... fly, can you?" He asked with a sly grin.

"No.. no sir..." Pipes stammered nervously.

"Good." Galvatron noted. "Because now you get the chance!" He said, throwing both of them off with a heavy toss. Sending the two Autobots spinning off into deep space. "Decepticons! Forward!" With that, the group of eleven Decepticons advanced through the space bridge.

Back on Earth, Miko had just gotten back with her camera, ready to go. "Finally found that infernal camera, space bridges use a lot of energon, you know!" Ratchet griped.

"Sorry." Miko said sarcastically. Just as the group walked forward, ready to enter, a Cybertronian entered before them. A Cybertronian sickeningly familiar to Ratchet and the humans.

"Megatron!?" Ratchet was taken aback by Galvatron suddenly stepping forward.

"Close, but wrong." Galvatron grinned. "Decepticons! Attack!" He commanded, the other Decepticons stepped forward through the space bridge, weapons armed and ready to fire.

"Oh scrap." Miko gulped.

Back on Cybertron, Team Prime had been gathered, awaiting the arrival of Ratchet and the humans. Minutes had gone by, surely they would have at least boarded the shuttle. Something must have gone wrong. Optimus radioed up to the space bridge dock to see what was going on.

"Optimus Prime to Huffer and Pipes. Come in Huffer and Pipes." Optimus spoke into his comlink, no answer, only static.

"What's happening?" Arcee asked, anxiety rising in her tone.

"You think it might be Decepticons?" Smokecreen asked.

"I doubt it." Wheeljack replied. "Pipes probably fell asleep at the monitor again." Just then, another Autobot ran up to the group, calling Optimus Prime's name. Bulkhead recognized him, he was his partner at the security bureau. He was a bot about the same height as Bumblebee and Smokescreen, with a flat torso consisting of his alternate mode's hood and a large shoulder cannon with a white and red color scheme.

"What is it, Red Alert?" Optimus asked the 'bot, twitching and mumbling in a fit of nerves.

"Optimus!" He stammered. "You're never going to believe this." He twitched. "But... but but there's been an attack on the space bridge!" He exclaimed. "Pipes and Huffer are nowhere to be seen on the dock, and mere astroseconds ago, eleven Decepticon signals went through! Including Shockwave and Starscream!" He exclaimed. Team Prime exchanged worried looks. Optimus knew timing was everything at this moment.

"Autobots, get to the nearest shuttle you can find. Time is precious." He ordered. Optimus, Bumblebee, Arcee, Bulkhead, Wheeljack, Smokescreen, and Ultra Magnus ran to the nearest shuttle they could find. A cargo shuttle about to take off, taking over it, Optimus flew the shuttle up to the space bridge, hoping that when the arrived it wouldn't be too late.

 _To be continued..._


	2. Episode 2: Reunion

**Author's note:** Previously on Transformers: Prime... With the aid of Unicron, Megatron made his return from the bottom of the ocean as Galvatron and usurped command of the Decepticons from Starscream. Ratchet made plans to visit Cybertron with Jack, Miko, and Raf to reunite with their old friends only to be staring down the barrel of Galvatron's fusion cannon before they could cross through the portal. Now, it's a race against the clock for Team Prime to come to the aid of Ratchet and the humans before it's too late...

* * *

Episode 2: Reunited

"Whoa, Optimus Prime!" A red and gray Autobot with the same body type as Red Alert known as Sideswipe remarked as Optimus and his crew barged into their shuttle. "It's an honor, sir."

"No time for formalities." Optimus answered, sitting down in the pilot's seat and starting the ship, the other Autobots on Prime's team taking command of various other stations. "We need to get to the space bridge." He said, flying the shuttle as fast as it could go.

"What in Primus' name is going on here!?" The ship's director, an Autobot officer with a build identical to Smokescreen with a white and black paint job known as Prowl remarked, walking into the command center.

"We're commandeering this vessel. Prime's orders." Arcee explained.

"Prime's orders, huh?" Prowl asked. "Likely story." He rolled his optics.

"More likely than you may think." Optimus answered from the control chair, causing Prowl to stop in his tracks and do a double take. "Autobots, get ready to jump, time is of the essence and landing the ship will take too long."

"Now that's what I like to hear." Wheeljack remarked, already waiting by the door. "Bet you wish you let Miko keep the Apex Armor right about now, eh Bulkhead?" He chuckled to his friend.

"Not the time, Jackie." Bulkhead replied, already nervous for the safety of his friend.

"I'm sure Miko's fine, Bulkhead." Bumblebee reassured him. "She's tough."

"Not tough enough to take on... how many Decepticons went through the space bridge? Eleven?" Ultra Magnus stated. "Especially not without the Apex Armor."

"Not helping." Bumblebee nudged the Autobot officer.

"Open the doors, Wheeljack!" Optimus ordered as the shuttle got within jumping range of the space bridge. Wheeljack nodded and opened the door, he and Bulkhead being the first to jump out, Smokescreen and Arcee following with Ultra Magnus not far behind. Bumblebee turned to Optimus, waiting at the door. Optimus approached Bumblebee and prepared to jump. "Let's go, Bumblebee." He said, and with that, the two jumped, joining the others on the space bridge docks.

"Geronimo!" Sideswipe exclaimed, jumping after Prime and his team.

"Sideswipe! No!" Prowl hollered, chasing after him with a leap. Sideswipe, much like the rest of Team Prime, disappeared through the space bridge. Prowl swore to himself as he vanished through it as well, this was _not_ how he saw his day going.

Meanwhile, Ratchet was frozen in fear looking down the barrel of Galvatron's cannon. "Any last words, Autobot?" Galvatron grinned.

"None that you'd like to hear." Ratchet replied, clenching his fists while Jack, Miko, and Raf hid behind his legs.

"Perhaps I could offer you some." A voice said, behind Galvatron, a sickeningly familiar one to Starscream, Shockwave, and Galvatron.

"Optimus Prime." Galvatron remarked, turning around to see Team Prime plus Sideswipe and Prowl standing there, ready to fire at Galvatron and his team.

"I can still sense your spark, Megatron, it takes more than a new paint job to fool me." Optimus remarked. "And it will take more than a new paint job to _beat_ me!" Optimus exclaimed, laying a heavy blow to Galvatron with his fist before Galvatron could even process what Prime had said.

"Yeah! That's what I'm talkin' about!" Miko exclaimed, pumping her fist in excitement.

"Don't just stand there!" Ultra Magnus ordered the others. "Pick a 'Con and fight!" He ordered, charging Shockwave and engaging in battle. The other members of team Prime nodded and followed suit, engaging in battle with the other Decepticons, at an advantage considering all the Decepticons bar Galvatron were quite low on energon.

"Oh yeah. This is working _brilliantly._ " One of the Decepticons sharing Starscream's build in a black and purple color known as Skywarp remarked. "I'm starting to think we'd be better off with Starscream." He remarked, dodging a swing from Wheeljack.

"I don't think it's _that_ bad." Another seeker, this time blue and gray known as Thundercracker told his brother. "At least we get to die under someone competent's command." He remarked as he lazily fought against Smokescreen, pretty much accepting his fate. "Ah, oh no." He said sarcastically when Smokescreen hit him in the chest.

"Would you two shut up?" a seeker with a femme build in purple colors scoffed, her name being Slipstream. "I don't need a full tank to take you down, Autobot." She snarled at Prowl, who shuddered and stepped back a little.

"Listen lady, I was just trying to keep a member of my crew from going AWOL." Prowl replied. "Fat load of good that turned into." He muttered.

"I said I was sorry!" Sideswipe hollered as he fought back and forth with Swindle. "Wait... did I?" He asked.

"No. No you didn't." Prowl deadpanned. "I'm Prowl, by the way. To any of you who care." He spoke aloud to the other Autobots and humans.

"Cool, new guy." Miko remarked, taking a picture of Prowl. Who looked quizzically at the earthling. For the most part, the battle was an easy win for the Autobots, they had been able to overpower the weaker Decepticons with ease. Soon, it was just Optimus Prime versus Galvatron.

"Give it up, Megatron, you're never going to win! The war is over, finished! Cybertron is restored and thriving under the Autobot's regime!" Optimus exclaimed, punching Galvatron hard in the chest plate. Galvatron snarled and lunged back at Optimus.

"I am Galvatron!" He bellowed. "And it is my mission to _destroy_ Cybertron! Not to conquer it!" Galvatron snarled, not actually speaking through his thoughts but Unicron speaking through him. This statement caught Optimus, the Autobots, and even the other Decepticons off guard. Had he really just said that he wanted to destroy Cybertron?

"Lord Galvatron, you couldn't have possibly just said..." Vortex remarked.

"That you wanna destroy Cybertron, I mean, c'mon!" Swindle exclaimed.

"What?" Galvatron asked. "No, surely I don't want to destroy... GAH!" He exclaimed, a surge of pain flowing through his body. Crying out in pain, he dropped down on his knees and threw his hands up in agony. Autobots and Decepticons all stopped and stared, not sure what was going on.

"We will discuss this later." Unicorn spoke inside Galvatron's mind. "You're going to retreat."

"What!?" Galvatron answered Unicron, though to the others it seemed he was calling out to nothing.

"I order you to retreat, or I will make your pain worse." Unicron answered. Galvatron murmured and stood to his feet, looking at the Autobots and Decepticons staring at him in confusion. Galvatron growled and punched Optimus back once more.

"Decepticons! Retreat!" He ordered. With that, he blasted a large hole in the wall with his cannon and flew through it. The other Decepticons followed suit not long after, leaving the Autobots along with the three humans more confused rather than anything else.

"Are you sure that was Megatron?" Bumblebee asked Optimus after the dust had settled. "He seemed to be acting different from what I recall."

"I am positive it was Megatron." Optimus answered. "But... he wasn't alone." He remarked.

"Well... yeah, there were like ten other Decepticons." Smokescreen remarked, earning cold looks from other Autobots standing beside him. "Unless that wasn't what you meant." He murmured awkwardly, shuffling his feet. Optimus said nothing, just stood in silence for a moment, he then turned to Ratchet with a small grin on his face, almost as if nothing had ever happened.

"Ratchet." He smiled. "Good to see you once more, old friend." He said, extending his hand to Ratchet, who made his best effort to remain formal and shake his leader and old friend's hand.

"It's... great to see you again, Optimus." Ratchet smiled. "But... Galvatron, Starscream..." He stammered, not letting the reunion distract him from what had just happened. Optimus nodded and his face turned to that of a more serious expression.

"It is imperative that we prevent Galvatron and his Decepticons from posing a threat to Earth or Cybertron." Optimus nodded. "But still... there are more important matters to attend to." He noted.

"Like relocating after Galvatron was made aware of our base of operations." Ultra Magnus noted. Optimus turned to Ultra Magnus and shook his head, something still held precedent in his mind than even that, but what was it?

"What's important now is doing what this day was meant for." He looked to Jack, Miko and Raf. "A reunion." He said with a smile. "Autobots, at ease. Make yourselves comfortable." He commanded. "Today is a day for meeting with old friends." He said. "And perhaps even new ones." He said, looking to Prowl and Sideswipe.

"It's an honor, Optimus Prime." Prowl saluted. "But alas, Sideswipe and I need to go. Our freighter needs us, we have a job to do and it does not involve fighting Decepticons."

"Please note that Prowl does _not_ speak for me, sir." Sideswipe said with an enthused grin. "I am more than happy to stay here and kick some tailpipe."

"Good. We need all the help we can get. Once Galvatron gets the other Decepticons up to code they'll be multiples the threat the were today." Arcee noted before turning to Jack. "I told you to keep in touch." She said with a stern tone yet a teasing smirk. "Looks like we had to hunt you down after all."

"It's good to see you again, Arcee." Jack nodded, a smile on his face, he still looked very similar to five years prior, all except for a beard like stubble now on his face.

"I'd advise you shave that off. It doesn't suit you." Arcee noted, teasing her former partner. Jack chuckled and shuffled his feet, not sure how to reply. The reunion wasn't half as awkward however for Bulkhead, Wheeljack and Miko. Miko was already excitedly sharing stories of the missions she'd been on for the past five years in their absence.

"And then, there was one time where I had to take out a spy!" Miko exclaimed. "Let me tell you, he never saw it coming!"

"Ha ha! That's my girl!" Bulkhead cheered.

"Glad to know time can't change a Wrecker." Wheeljack grinned. "Gotta admit, I was a little disappointed when we came through that you hadn't already handled the 'Cons for us." He teased.

"What? And let her have all the fun?" Bumblebee chimed in.

"No matter how many times I hear you talk, it's unreal." Raf remarked, looking up at Bumblebee, who had gone back to his older paint job style, preferring primarily yellow over the black more than yellow look.

"Five years of not hearing me talk probably didn't do you any favors there, huh?" Bumblebee replied with a little grin. "So don't tell me, you're the tech expert of your Ops team." He guessed.

"How did you know?" Raf replied, knowing very well it was obvious.

"Wild guess." Bumblebee replied with a chuckle. "Still got that game console?" He asked.

"You bet, c'mon, let's go play!" Raf nodded, leading Bee off. Optimus watched the human lead Bumblebee off and smiled. He enjoyed how his life on Cybertron had been, but he had missed the humans and Ratchet dearly. He looked to see his soldiers conversing with their old human friends, and he was happy. Before he could speak up to address his troops, a video feed came in from Fowler.

"Great Abe Lincoln's beard, you really are here!" Fowler remarked, seeing Optimus Prime through the other end of the screen.

"Yes indeed, Agent Fowler. Very good to see you once more." Optimus replied, stepping toward the screen.

"Agreed, if only your arrival didn't also come with eleven Decepticons." Fowler remarked. "Rafael was smart to let me know the moment they came through. Along with Miko sending me..." He stopped to look at his cell phone. "Thirty seven text messages all within the same minute."

"And one of those Decepticons appeared to be Megatron himself." Optimus noted, this perplexed Fowler just as much as it had everyone else. "But within him I could sense the presence of someone much worse, Unicron."

"Unicron?" Fowler replied. "Sweet John F. Kennedy..." He murmured. "Well then, it's good to see your team back on Earth, it's the only way we have a fighting chance against the Decepticons."

"Was that ever even in question?" Prowl replied bluntly, stepping forward. "I mean, if those children are any indication, your race is very small, fragile, and frankly, rather useless in regards to combat. How you've survived for however long you've been around is beyond my ability to process." Fowler arched his brow at the 'bot at Prime's side.

"Ah. I see you have new editions to your team." He replied. "And I can already tell we'll get along swimmingly. Fowler out." He concluded, shutting off his end of the feed. Optimus then looked to the soldier sized Autobot who had joined him.

"If you can communicate still with your ship, I advise you do it. We may still need all the help we can get." Optimus told Prowl. "Once Galvatron gets Starscream, Shockwave and the others re-energized, there's no telling what damage they may do."

"Very well, Optimus." Prowl nodded. "I'll be in contact with my crew as soon as I can. How's the communications signal on this rock?"

"Leaves much to be desired," Ratchet answered him, joining Optimus. "But if I were to work on it, I could probably be able to find your ship's signal."

"Good." Prowl replied.

"In the meantime, Prowl, I advise you make yourself comfortable. For the time being you won't be going anywhere." Optimus told him, walking away from Prowl and Ratchet.

"He's a very stoic Autobot, isn't he?" Prowl remarked.

Meanwhile, the Decepticons had made they're way to one of their abandoned energon mines, for now, they had to call that home. Galvatron ordered the Combaticons and Seekers to start searching the mine for any scrap of energon, while he and Shockwave sat in the control room of the mine. Shoackwave worked away at the computer, scanning for energy facilities nearby.

"Lord Galvatron," Shockwave spoke up. "I propose an idea, energon is scarce on the planet, especially after we had already been here. I advise we start looking into alternate fuel, I think I may have mastered the formula for synthetic energon, we can convert energy from power plants on the planet into energon cubes."

"Excellent." Glavatron noted. "Because from the looks of things, energon mining is off to an abysmal start." He said, remarking Brawl's findings.

"I still don't see why we can't get some fragging Vehicons!" Brawl remarked. "I'm a soldier! I don't do this scrap!"

"You'll do this scrap if I tell you to, _I AM YOUR MASTER!_ " Galvatron bellowed. "Now, get back into the mine shaft before I disassemble you for spare parts!" Brawl backed away quietly, knowing it was not an empty threat. He turned and ran back to the mine.

"You'd better not bug Galvatron right now, he's in a mood." Brawl told the Combaticons and Seekers.

"Glad to know he hasn't changed much." Swindle replied, eyeing a large energon crystal in Skywarp's cart, while Skywarp was distracted, he grabbed the crystal and placed it in his own cart. "Heheh, Galvatron'll love this." He smirked. "Might even make me the new SIC."

"Not a chance." Slipstream replied, overhearing Swindle's plot. "He's going to make _me_ his new SIC. I'm the most competent Seeker!" She exclaimed.

"Given the other Seekers here that isn't saying much." Vortex replied bluntly.

"What're you trying to say, you creep?" Skywarp clenched his fists. "Hey!" He remarked. "Who the frag took my crystal!" He hollered upon noticing that the large crystal formerly in his cart was gone.

"It was probably Thundercracker." Swindle said. "He's a sneak." He continued, covering his own hide.

"What!?" Thundercracker exclaimed.

"My own brother, I guess I can't trust anyone anymore!" Skywarp exclaimed, ready to attack Thundercracker. The only thing that stopped him from attacking his brother was Starscream, who had fired at a small crystal of energon and created a small explosion to get the other's attention. The Combaticons and Seekers turned to Starscream, who stood before them as if he had something to say.

"Skywarp, Thundercracker... others." Starscream spoke. "We should not fight among each other, we need to work together. Work together toward a common goal. That goal, being taking down Galvatron."

"Same old Starscream." Blast Off scoffed. "Why am I not surprised?"

"Nobody's going to listen to you, Starscream." Slipstream said. "We all were fragged under your leadership. With Galvatron we've got a chance at winning this war."

"Now, Slipstream, Blast Off, listen to me." Starscream reasoned. "You all heard what Galvatron said, he intends to destroy Cybertron." This reminder caused murmuring to erupt through those gathered. Starscream had a point. "Decepticons have never been about destroying Cybertron, it's our home. Clearly, Galvatron isn't firing on all cylinders. We need to take control over Cybertron, not destroy it."

"And how do you figure we can accomplish that, huh?" Skywarp asked.

"We have the most elite force of flyers with us, and we have the best special ops team the Decepticons have to offer." Starscream said. "We can overthrow one tyrant and his mad scientist." He said, fueling the fire. "I'm not saying we fight to over throw him today, I'm saying we obey his command until the time is right, and then, we take command and destroy him, the Autobots, and conquer Cybertron!" His statement led the Seekers and Combaticons to nod and murmur, eventually the consensus came to a positive one.

"Alright Starscream." Onslaught stepped forward. "We agree with your proposition. We will work with you in this task. We cannot see Cybertron be destroyed, but bear in mind that is the only reason we will follow you. If this goes south, we will hold you one hundred percent responsible." He said, standing over Starscream and lowering his tone menacingly. Starscream chuckled nervously and nodded, backing away from Onslaught.

"You have my word. And when Cybertron is ours, you will all serve as my council." Starscream promised.

"Well, that sounds like an offer I can't refuse." Swindle remarked.

"Precisely." Starscream nodded. "Now, back to mining... for now." He instructed.

 _To be continued..._


	3. Episode 3: New

**Author's note:** Unicron wants Cybertron destroyed, Starscream is trying to form his own army to form a mutiny, and Team Prime needs to relocate and regroup.

* * *

Episode 3: New

/This is Arcee, requesting permission to enter. No signs of Decepticon activity in my quadrant./ Arcee commed as she and Jack sped along the desert road. It had been a few weeks since Optimus and his team returned to Earth, and the first order of business was moving into a new base.

/This is Bulkhead with base. Entrance is a go./ Bulkhead commed back. Arcee stopped an abandoned gas station on the side of the road and Jack got off of her, going up to pump three, he pressed a specific combination on the pump, and the ground around the refueling station shifted, an elevator like piston sending the ground Arcee and Jack were on down below into the Autobot's new underground base. A project Fowler had been conceptualizing ever since Prime's team left Earth, a higher tech facility for whenever the team may return, and now was as good a time as ever to put it into work.

"This is Prowl with security. Arcee and the human have returned. Over and out." Arcee heard one of the new additions to the team, Prowl speak into his com as Arcee sped down the bridge that the elevator platform eventually connected to, this bridge led to the Autobot's bunker style base. Reaching the door, Arcee transformed and the sliding door opened.

"Certainly less homely than the last base." Arcee remarked to Jack as they walked in.

"And then, that base was less homely than the one before that." Jack noted.

"Don't remind me." Arcee replied with a little sigh. "I don't know Jack, it's great to be back, but I kind of wish everything could be how it was."

"How so?" Jack asked.

"Eh, the old base, just the old team, if I'm being completely honest I miss it just being Megatron, Starscream, Soundwave, and the Vehicons that we were up against." She admitted.

"I certainly don't miss Megatron." Jack said as they walked.

"I'd rather him than this... Galvatron was it?" She said. "At least Megatron was easy to predict after a while. And while Glavatron is still some of what was Megatron, something's changed him, something's made him mad, unpredictable, insane." She explained to Jack.

"I suppose so." Jack nodded. "But hey, look on the bright side of this. The team's back together, you get to go on those desert drives you always liked, and hey, not to make this about me, but... y'know, I'm here." Arcee chuckled a little at Jack's attempt to lighten her mood.

"I gotta admit, I missed having you around." Arcee said. "Life got boring without having to keep track of you all the time."

"Good, you'll have more than just Jack to keep track of." Ratchet stated, overhearing Arcee and Jack's conversation.

"And why's that?" Arcee asked him.

"Prowl's freighter will be here soon with reinforcements." Ratchet answered.

"Okay, one, we don't need reinforcements." Arcee said. "Two, I'm not in charge of them, Prowl would be."

"We do need the reinforcements, Arcee." Ratchet told her. "I don't think you understand something, Mega.. Galvatron's team has a _Combiner_. Those Combaticons combine and they could even take out Optimus Prime."

"That justifies one point, now why the other?" Arcee arched her brow.

"Because Prowl is serving as Prime's strategist now, so we need you to keep the troops in line." Ratchet reasoned.

"Why can't Bulkhead? Wheeljack? Ultra Magnus?" She asked.

"Bulkhead is too much of a softy, Wheeljack's too loose a cannon, and Ultra Magnus... Well, he can't deal with that right now." Ratchet answered. Arcee gritted her teeth and clenched her fists, Ratchet outranked her technically, so she couldn't oppose directly, and technically it was her job on Cybertron for training recruits, but she was not looking forward to doing it all over again. "You wouldn't be training them, you'd be keeping them in line until we see just who's coming... Prowl was a little skimpy on the details when I asked about the crew." Ratchet reasoned. "It's a promotion." He said, trying to shed the new task in a positive light for Arcee, it didn't completely work, but it helped.

"When are they getting here?" Arcee asked with a little sigh.

"Later today, good thing you're back now. You can give them a welcome and lay down the law." Ratchet said.

"Fine, but if one of them even glances at my bumper you can expect to see them in your medical bay real fast." Arcee promised.

"What did you think I meant by laying down the law?" Ratchet chuckled. "Now, I have my own matters to attend to. Arcee, Jack." He nodded respectfully as he turned and walked away.

"Moving up in the world." Jack remarked with a little grin now that he and Arcee were alone again.

"I guess." Arcee shrugged. "I just hope these reinforcements have a decent helm on their shoulders, lest I end up stuck with a bunch of Smokescreens."

"Well, if Sideswipe had been any indication..." Jack shrugged.

"Primus forbid." Arcee replied.

Later that day, the ship arrived, landing behind the desolate gas station. Arcee and Jack stood before the ramp of the ship as it descended, awaiting who these new recruits would be and how much Arcee would hate them.

"Here we go." Arcee mumbled as the ramp hit the ground and the first of the crew stepped out, this face actually surprised Arcee, she knew him. He fought in the war for Cybertron, he was a very well respected general too.

"Arcee, good t'see you." The Autobot saluted, his build was similar to Ratchet's in a way, but swap white for red and where Ratchet had red this mech had gray. Instead of a chevron on his red helmet, he had an arch along the top of it like a roman soldiers helmet.

"Whoa... who's that?" Jack asked.

"Jack, meet Ironhide." Arcee replied, saluting at the general.

"At ease, soldier. Good t'see you again." Ironhide smiled warmly. "Y'must be a local." He looked down at Jack. "Any friend of Arcee is a friend of mine." He nodded respectfully.

"Likewise." Jack nodded.

"Alright mechs!" Ironhide bellowed a call. "Get out here before I go find Prowl an' sic him on you!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming." The first voice from the shuttle said, a new Autobot stepped down the ramp, he was taller than Ironhide, not by much as he still looked short compared to Optimus or Bulkhead. Primarily his body was a light shade of red with accents of yellow. Smokestacks sat on his shoulders and his servos hung as if his arms had been built just slightly too long, but it could have been on account of his unprofessional slouch.

"Treadsmoke! Straighten up, huh!?" Ironhide growled. The young Autobot jerked upright and goosestepped the rest of his way down the ramp.

"I s'pose I've just been robbed of my introduction," Treadsmoke remarked. "How ya doing? Name's Treadsmoke. Wanna see my party trick?" He asked. He snapped his digits and then his appearance completely changed, taking to look exactly like Ironhide. "Ten-Hut!" He saluted stiffly before changing back. "I can change my form, how cool is that? I'm like Makeshift, but a hundred percent less terrifying." He chuckled.

"And a hundred percent more... frat boyish." Jack remarked quietly.

"Blimey! A local!" Treadsmoke exclaimed, kneeling down to get a closer look. "Delicate looking, had best watch my step."

"Would you go!?" Ironhide kicked him off to the side. "Jazz! Whirl! Nautica!" He called, beckoning the last three out of the shuttle. Respectively, Jazz was an Autobot car build with mostly white plating, making his black helmet and bright blue visor stick out. Blue racing stripes covered plating on his sides and much like other Autobot cars, the doors of his alternate mode acted like wing like attachments. In the middle was a tall and thin blue Autobot who seemed to be the most oddly built out of them all, his legs were bent inwardly, and where hands should have been were pincer like claws, what's more, instead of a face of even a face plate, he had a head just like Shockwave, bar that his eye was yellow and not red. Finally, the third was a magenta and yellow femme with large fan like propellers on her back. Her helmet was rounded with a black antenna on the side, on the top of her helmet there seemed to be welding goggles strapped to it. "Alright Arcee, this here's the remainder of the reinforcements."

"Certainly better than nothing." Arcee remarked.

"Wow, _the_ Arcee." Whirl spoke up. "It's such an honor, do you remember me? You arrested me once, twice maybe."

"Pleasure to meet you, sweet spark." Jazz grinned. "Hope you an' I can jive together just A-Ok."

"Hi! Happy to be sharing the base with another femme." Nautica remarked. "Care to show me to the workshop? I have equipment to set up."

"Alright troops, I... I guess I'll show you to your quarters, then we'll meet with the others and come up with a plan for our first move." Arcee said, leading the troops to the elevator platform to take them into base.

"What's your take on the new recruits?" Jack asked.

"Ironhide has proved his merit, Nautica seems like she'll be useful, otherwise... Primus help us." Arcee replied. "Whirl has proven himself to be a loose cannon, and Jazz seems to be detached from everything around him."

"Hopefully they get along well with everyone in the base." Jack mentioned.

"They will. Hopefully not too well." Arcee replied. "I certainly know some will get along more than others."

"Aw frag, Ultra Magnus is on your team, isn't he?" Whirl asked.

"Case in point." Arcee noted.

* * *

"Autobots, welcome to planet Earth." Optimus Prime welcomed the new recruits in the briefing room, the five new arrivals sat with Prowl and Sideswipe from their shuttle, and around them sat the original Team Prime, along with Ultra Magnus, Wheeljack, and Smokescreen of course. "I know that among you we have experienced warriors, Jazz, Prowl, Whirl and Ironhide to note, brilliant technological minds, that being Nautica... and I'm sure that Sideswipe and Treadsmoke will be able to offer something worthwhile as well.

"Good to see you again, Whirl." Bulkhead grinned to Whirl. Bulkhead and Wheeljack had a history with Whirl, he was a Wrecker back during the war, he left shortly after Ultra Magnus started to lead the team, in fact, he left Cybertron afterwards.

"Always nice to see a deserter rear his visage again." Ultra Magnus spoke bitterly.

"Love you too, Maggy." Whirl replied coyly.

"The Decepticons have regrouped, and are arguably more powerful than they were before." Optimus spoke. "Despite the fact they are now without a Vehicon armada, they now have the original Seekers reunited and a Combiner team with them."

"Not to mention Predaking and Arachnid are still MIA." Arcee spoke up.

"But at least we don't have Soundwave to deal with." Miko spoke up with a smirk. "That's right, we did that." She spoke for herself, Jack, and Raf.

"Soundwave, Arachnid, Predaking, or none of the above, Galvatron and the Decepticons that remain are a powerful threat, a powerful and unpredictable threat. Which means we have to be ready for anything." Ratchet noted. "We'll have Ironhide get to work on making sure Sideswipe and Treadsmoke are combat ready, being the only ones of us who have no combat experience.

"Um, remember when we first got here?" Sideswipe spoke up. "I have combat experience."

"That is hardly combat experience." Prowl told him. "Had you been thrown into a real combat situation, you would have been offlined almost immediately." He said cryptically. "Now, Treadsmoke, Jazz, Ironhide, Whirl, and Nautica, first order of business for you all is Earth based alternate modes to blend in.

"Rad. I could go to take a new set o' wheels out for a spin." Jazz grinned.

"C'mon." Ironhide stood up. "Treadsmoke, try not to pick an alternate mode too similar to mine, huh?" He asked Treadsmoke, who already looked similar to him as it was as the group of five exited. Arcee was relieved Ironhide was a part of the team, otherwise the group would be her responsibility, and she was never a fan of running teams.

"They've never been around humans before, keep in mind." Ratchet murmured to Arcee, which was his way of saying, accompany them lest one of them make the existence of Cybertronians known to human kind. Arcee sighed and took off after them.

After a little more than two hours out and about, Arcee had returned with the new recruits. Whirl had chosen the form of an attack chopper he had seen at an army base not far from the old highway. Ironhide took the form of a large SUV, Treadsmoke took a more modest form of a pickup truck, Jazz took a sleek white sports car with blue pinstripes, and Nautica donned a hot pink hovercraft for her alternate mode.

"At least three out of the five of you picked... subtle alternate modes." Prowl remarked upon inspection of the crew.

"We were supposed to go for subtle?" Whirl asked. "Not my speed, Prowler."

"Vector Sigma..." Prowl sighed. "Ironhide?"

"Alright troops, find a room with a free berth and claim your place." Ironhide instructed. "Do I make m'self clear?" The crew nodded and dispersed themselves, all walking toward the hall where the private rooms were, chattering among themselves. "Best we can do Prime." He said, almost apologetically to his old friend.

"Do not apologize for them, Ironhide." Optimus replied. "I am sure each and every one of them will prove to be a reliable asset."

"Y'think?" Ironhide asked.

"Well, if not... there's always Jazz." Optimus replied, walking away from the room that now only Prowl and Ironhide remained in. The two followed the Autobot leader out, considering they were now working under him.

* * *

"Hey Galvatron," Swindle said as he strolled into Galvatron's throne room. Grinning as if he either had good news or a weapon he was going to sell for an outrageous profit and claim to call it a deal, and knowing Swindle it could have very well been the latter. "Guess what I saw when I was out on patrol."

"What, Swindle?" Galvatron asked.

"Autobots. More of 'em." Swindle replied. "Ironhide and Jazz were there, then a few nobodies."

"A few nobodies you say?" Galvatron asked. "I had the same foolish outlook as you once, and it cost me the war. If these Autobots are here on this planet, working with Optimus Prime, they are _not_ nobodies." Skywarp and Thundercracker, who had been standing to the left and right of Galvatrons throne exchanged glances. This was out of character for Megatron to say, they had to remind themselves that this wasn't Megatron anymore. Perhaps Galvatron had a different outlook on these sort of things.

"Well, then I guess I just didn't know 'em." Swindle shrugged.

"Then I've got a mission for you." Galvatron said. "Get to know them." He instructed.

"How do you wager I do that?" Swindle asked with a slight chuckling scoff. "Stroll on into their base?"

"You're a fool, Swindle." Galvatron sighed. "A pitiful fool. A disposable, pitiful, insignificant fool." He bemoaned. "You think so little of me that I would have the idiotic idea of having you walk into their base? I could blast you here and now just for you suggesting I'm that stupid."

"Yeah." Skywarp crossed his servos.

"Skywarp, please." Galvatron muttered. "Go and fetch Shockwave, I have an idea for how you may get to know just what we are up against."

"Surely it's nothing compared to our armada, Lord Galvatron." Swindle replied. "After all, we've got the top Seeker team, not to mention the Combaticons, _you..._ "

"NOW SWINDLE!" Galvatron barked, standing up and aiming his large orange cannon right at the SUV Combaticon. Swindle chuckled nervously and cowered backward, eventually sprinting out of the throne room to fetch Shockwave. Galvatron sighed and sulked down into his throne. "Why do we keep him around?"

"He's Bruticus' right leg, Lord Galvatron." Thundercracker answered.

"Right." Galvatron replied. Soon, Swindle had returned with Shockwave, Swindle still seemed a bit frightened as he cowered behind the scientist as they approached Galvatron.

"You requested my presence, Lord Galvatron?" Shockwave asked.

"Can you construct an Autobot distress signal?" Galvatron asked.

"But of course, Lord Galvatron." Shockwave nodded.

"Can you alter Swindle's voice and electronic paint job?" Galvatron asked. Swindle jolted at the notion Galvatron was suggesting. There was no way he was posing as an Autobot, no way, not at the risk of being found out by Optimus Prime and Ultra Magnus, they'd tear him to shreds!

"It's not my area of expertise, but I can." Shockwave nodded.

"Excellent, I want Swindle ready to infiltrate by the next dawn." Galvatron replied.

"Yes, Lord Galvatron." Shockwave nodded. "Come, Swindle." Shockwave practically dragged Swindle out of the throne room, who seemed to have froze up upon realization of his mission.

Swindle stepped out of Shockwave's lab the next morning, his body, where yellow had once been was now a dark matte green, his accents had been replace with beige, his optics now glowed blue, and most offensively of all, his Decepticon insignias were replaced with that of Autobot ones. His fellow Combaticons erupted in laughter when they saw Swindle, who turned to them with a scowl.

"Not a word." He growled, in a voice quite unlike his own.


	4. Episode 4: Masquerade and Memories

**Author's note:** Special thanks to my wonderful little sweetspark of my own for helping me write her OC, Silver. I hope you enjoy this new episode of Transformers Prime, the fourth season!

* * *

Episode 4: Masquerade and Memories

"So that's how I almost died the seventeenth time," Ironhide said as he told a story to some of the members of the newly expanded Team Prime. "Now, the eighteenth time is a real doozy, I take you back to about four hundred vorns ago..." He began his next story.

"How many times has this guy almost died?" Smokescreen leaned into Treadsmoke.

"I've lost count." He replied. "Heard all these stories probably more times than he's almost died, I'll say that much." The Autobot said as he stood up to take a stroll around the base. " _Lonely, I'm so lonely, I have nobody, for my oooooowwwn._ " He hummed to himself as he stepped through the empty corridors. "It ain't been the same since that night." He thought back to a night, long ago. "I miss ya." He muttered to himself, glumly. What was the matter with that mech? Many years ago, there was another member of his crew, a femme. A rarity she was, after all, she was a Predacon. What set her apart from other Predacons was her size, as a robot she was only a little bit taller than Arcee. Her name was Silver.

 _"Silvy,"_ Treadsmoke remembered once saying to her, that fateful night. _"When this war is over, what do you say we settle down on Velocitron? I'd suggest Caminus, but I know how jealous you get. All femme planet might not be a good idea."_

 _"As long as we're together, I couldn't care if we were stranded on an asteroid, Tready."_ He remembered the reply clearly.

Tready.

He laughed a little bit, remembering that conversation, it's all he could do at this point, have a laugh. She was the sweetest little thing a mech like himself could have ever asked for, after all, she was able to put up with his seldom serious, jokey self that many had little patience for, and was more than able to pick him up when he was low. As he walked through the hall, more of that day started to play in his mind, remembering it like it was yesterday.

* * *

"Decepticon fire on the bridge!" He remembered Ironhide hollering. "Treadsmoke! Silver! Blaster! With me!"

"But I don't have any combat training!" Treadsmoke protested.

"Just aim and pull the trigger, it ain't that hard, son." Ironhide tossed him a blaster.

The fight was on, it was a group of Seekers that had attacked, led by Skyquake, they were looking to take any weaponry or energon from the ship that they could grab, this wouldn't have worried anyone on board, be it not for Skyquake's presence.

"Give it up, Autobots!" Skyquake snarled as he fired at the group of four who had taken cover behind shipping crates, they were a cargo ship after all, nothing more.

"We'd rather die, Decepticreep!" Blaster hollered, firing at one of the Seekers to Skyquake's side, pinning the blue, black, and gold conehead variant Seeker in the chest.

"You'll pay for that!" A burgundy and black colored conehead Seeker snarled at Blaster, hitting the tall and broad mech right in his carrier deck.

"Blaster!" Treadsmoke gasped, kneeling down to see to his friend.

"Tready, he'll be alright." Silver assured him, she was wrong however, Blaster would later die while Nautica was attempting repairs. "Keep fighting." She ordered, the red mech nodded and kept firing at the Decepticons.

"I've got an idea!" Ironhide said to his two soldiers. "Treadsmoke, run to the deck and tell Prowl to jump to light speed." He ordered.

"What!?" Treadsmoke remarked.

"Just do it!" He ordered. "As soon as Prowl makes the jump, I throw this frag grenade and we run." He said to Silver. "It'll blow a hole in the bridge and send the Decepticons outta here." He explained.

"You're sure that will work?" Silver asked.

"Ain't no better ideas." Ironhide replied. "We'll stop to repair the shuttle where we end up after the jump." He reasoned, Treadsmoke had made it to the bridge and informed Prowl of Ironhide's orders. Prowl obeyed and made the jump.

"NOW!" Ironhide threw the grenade, blowing a massive hole in the bridge and creating a force that threatened to suck everything out into deep space, the Seekers were the first to go, Skyquake clung on but eventually the force had overpowered him, Ironhide and Silver grasped at the doorway to safely get into the airlock.

"Silvy!" Treadsmoke exclaimed, running back to the two of them.

"Kid! Get outta here!" Ironhide ordered, tossing an unconscious Blaster into safety in the airlock..

"Ironhide, Treadsmoke!" Silver exclaimed, struggling to get her way through the doorway. "My wing is stuck!"

"Grab my servo!" Treadsmoke held it out for her to grab, but before she could grasp it, the vortex overpowered her and sent her out into deep space.

"SILVY!" Treadsmoke cried, trying to leap after her as Ironhide clung to him.

"It's too dangerous, kid!" Ironhide barked. "We'll come back for her."

When eventually they did return for her, she was nowhere to be found, not on any stray asteroid, not on any planet in the system, she was nowhere, gone. Long, long gone. Treadsmoke would go on to look on any planet they encountered on their travels, and never prevailed, he was determined she was out there somewhere.

But that was a long time ago.

* * *

"It should have been me." Treadsmoke sighed to himself, back in the present once more. "Silvy, I hope if you're out there somewhere... that you can manage to forgive me." He sighed glumly as he continued his walk. He would have more time to lament, but Ratchet's voice sounded throughout the base on a speaker.

/Arcee, Bulkhead, Bumblebee, and Treadsmoke to Teletraan One immediately./ Ratchet's voice sounded.

"Great, Cybertron's finest with a loser who couldn't even grab a servo." Treadsmoke lamented as he walked to the room where Teletraan One was situated. He was the last of the names called to enter, and all optics were on him. "Yeah, I know." He sighed. "What's the issue, Ratchet?"

"We seem to be picking up a distress signal from 42 kilometers due east." Ratchet answered. "It's an Autobot one."

"Message says they've landed here and need help from any bots in the area, something about being long separated from their crew." Arcee added.

"Does... does the message say anything else?" Treadsmoke perked up a little bit.

"Negative." Arcee replied.

"Super." Treadsmoke muttered. But there was a chance, a slim one at that, that this signal could belong to his long lost femme. "Well, bots, what are we waiting for? Lets rev up and roll out!" He exclaimed.

"That's transform and roll out." Bee corrected him as the group transformed and rode the elevator up to surface where they peeled out for this bot in distress.

"So Treadsmoke, why don't you tell us about yourself." Bulkhead made conversation as the four drove along down the highway.

"Well, during the war time I was fortunate enough to be too young for battle, so I did the next best thing," he began. "Relief shows for the Autobot troops, I would go to bases across Cybertron and do comedy for the troops."

"I think I remember seeing you in Iacon." Bumblebee mentioned. "You did that Megatron bit, right?"

"If you're referring to my classic _Lullabies in the Key of Megatron_ sketch, that was me." Treadsmoke replied with a chuckle.

"I still remember being terrified for the first time when I thought I saw Megatron up on stage, when he started singing _Rock a Bye, Sparkling_ though, I kinda figured it wasn't the real deal." Bumblebee noted.

"Come to think of it, Iacon was the first city I did that sketch at." Treadsmoke reminisced. He remembered that all too well, in fact, it was at that very show when he first met Silver...

* * *

"Thank you, you've been a wonderful audience. Kick some Decepticon aft out there, troops!" Treadsmoke saluted the crowd of Autobots in front of him. "Till all are one!"

"Till all are one!" The troops repeated as the audience dispersed and Treadsmoke stepped down from his platform to get a cube to drink after the show.

"Visco, if you have it." He said to the bot behind the bar, who nodded and gave the mech his drink. "So," he attempted conversation with the bartender. "When do you wager this war will be over?" He asked.

"It's not gonna be over until we're all dead and gone." A voice to his right said skeptically, a voice that belonged to a femme. He turned to see them femme with a confused look on his face.

"Now what kind of attitude is that to have?" Treadsmoke asked.

"The right one." The silver plated femme replied. "I've already accepted the fate of our home, our star system, or kind. Unfortunately nobody else seems to have done the same."

"Myself included." Treadsmoke replied as he sipped his cube. "That's good stuff." He mumbled to himself. "Pleased to meet you, my name's Treadsmoke, but you probably know that, considering I was just performing."

"Didn't catch that, sadly enough." The femme replied. "And you can call me Silver." The femme replied. "So, are you going to get me a drink?" She asked. Treadsmoke's optics widened a little. Straightforwardness, thy name is Silver.

"Sure, what… what would you like?" Treadsmoke asked. "Something cheap I hope, if you're just going to use how smitten with you I clearly am to get a free drink." He snorted a laugh.

"High grade." She replied.

"There goes the cheap angle." Treadsmoke mumbled. "Good thing I'm picking up around here and can afford this scrap." The bartender gave Silver the cube of high grade and she took it and drank from it.

"Thanks Redsmoke." She flashed a grin at the mech as she took the cube and walked off.

"It's… it's Treadsmoke." Treadsmoke mumbled, Silver already walking away.

"I know that, silly." She turned and walked back toward him. "MacCadams? next lunarcycle?" She asked me. Treadsmoke smiled a bit and looked and looked at the femme.

"Are you asking me on a date?" He asked, a stupid grin on his face.

"Not if you're going to act like that." She smirked a bit, he wiped the grin off his face and nodded respectfully.

"I guess I'll see you next lunarcycle." He smiled a bit. "Dilber."

"It's Silver, you slag." She sneered at the crimson red SUV build bot.

"I know." He replied with the same grin she had given him earlier.

* * *

"Treadsmoke... Treadsmoke... TREADSMOKE!" Arcee's voice jerked Treadsmoke back into reality.

"Huh, huh!?" Treadsmoke stammered. "Silver?" He asked, slowly reassessing his current surroundings. Earth desert highway. Currently in alternate mode. Surrounded by Arcee, Bumblebee, and Bulkhead.

"Tread, you okay buddy?" Bulkhead asked. "You seemed to space out, almost drove off the road a couple of times."

"I'm good." He replied shortly. "Are we nearly there?" He asked Arcee.

"Yep, the signal's just a few hundred meters away." Arcee nodded, excited, Treadsmoke transformed and leaped off the road and ran toward the signal. Bulkhead, Arcee, and Bumblebee transformed and watched him run.

"What put a spring in his step?" Bulkhead asked the others as they ran after him.

Treadsmoke laughed almost giddily as he bounded through the desert, the three others close behind. "Gonna see my Silvy, gonna see my Silvy, gonna see my Silvy, and she's gonna be incredibly mad that it's been almost a hundred orns and I should have found her by now." He realized. "Or she'll just be happy to see me, one of the two." He shrugged. But it was not one of the two. Actually, it was not Silver at all.

"Who are you?" He asked the boxy SUV build Cybertronian, who beneath the paint job and voice modification was the Decepticon plant, Swindle.

"I'm... uh... I'm Hound." 'Hound' replied. "Autobot scout and geologist, at your service." Treadsmoke took one look at this mech, the others now with him, and without saying anything, he leaped at the Cybertronoian and started to attack him.

"TREADSMOKE!" Arcee hollered at him. "That's an Autobot!"

"No it's not!" Treadsmoke growled, laying punches into him.

"Yes. I. AM!" Hound barked, throwing the mech off of him.

"Treadsmoke's lost it!" Bumblebee remarked. "All the murmuring and spacing in and out, he's gone insane."

"You can say that again." Arcee replied, once more having to pry Treadsmoke away from 'Hound' as he attempted to fight, spouting gibberish and nonsensical words.

"He's an impostor!" Treadsmoke hollered. "An impostor!"

"Pleased to meet you, Hound." Bumblebee held a servo out for the mech. Swindle looked at the Autobots servo and reluctantly shook it, to sell the act. "Come on, lets get you back to base." He said, leading the impostor.

"Lead the way." Swindle grinned, but not before grinning a devious little smirk at Treadsmoke. Treadsmoke huffed and reluctantly followed behind, hurt partially that his comrades wouldn't believe him, they thought he was crazy!

Back at the base, Arcee, Bulkhead, and Bumblebee let Hound in without question, taking pity on him since Treadsmoke attacked him. Treadsmoke was determined, he knew Hound. Hound was a good friend of his, this bot looked like Hound, he sounded like Hound, but that was most certainly not Hound.

"I'm no good at these things." He sighed, now alone on the elevator platform. He started to walk through the base once more to reflect. "That's the problem, nobody believes me!" He sputtered. "Why does nobody believe me!?" He sighed.

"You okay?" A voice behind him asked, startling the mech, he looked down and saw one of the humans, it was the female one. Michah? Neeko? No. What was her name? Miko. Miko, that was her name, he remembered now.

"Forget it." He replied. "You wouldn't care." He sighed.

"Gee, a big mech who's too sensitive for his own good." Miko smirked as she walked up to Treadsmoke. "Wonder where I've seen this before. C'mon, tell me what's wrong." She tugged at his ankle. Treadsmoke sighed and looked down at the human femme.

"Heh, where to begin?" He asked. "This has been one of the worst days of my life, for starters. All I could think about all day was," he looked to her. "It doesn't matter." He shrugged her off.

"Scrap, you're insufferable." Miko looked up at the sulking mech. "I heard you whining, something's wrong, if something's bothering you, it clearly matters."

"Okay, I'll tell you what's wrong." Treadsmoke huffed as he sat down. "Bulkhead, Arcee, and Bumblebee all think I've lost my mind because I know for a fact that the bot from the distress signal is an impostor, and of course, I just have the weight on my shoulders of knowing the femme I adore is lost and alone out there in space," he sighed. "That is, if she's still alive."

"Whoa! You have a femme?" Miko asked.

" _Had_." Treadsmoke locked his digits together. "Yeah, I know, crazy to think somebot would ever wanna be with a mech like me, right?" He snorted a pitiful laugh.

"That's not what I meant." Miko said. "You're a really cool mech, you've got a sense of humor, and you can do that cool thing where you become other bots! That's totally wicked!" She slugged his ankle, Treadsmoke couldn't help but smile at the human.

"She certainly seemed to think it was wicked." He sighed happily, reminiscing.

"What was she like?" Miko asked.

"You think I'm a bot who likes to have fun, you should have met her. You two would've got along great." He replied. "Let me tell you a bit about her."

* * *

It was… well, Treadsmoke wasn't sure at this point, their third… fourth date to MacCadams? All he knew was, this was the largest amount of dates he'd ever had. "So, I still don't know very much about you, why don't you tell me about yourself?" He asked Silver, sipping his cube of visco.

"What all do you want to know?" She asked, raising an optic ridge as she swirled her cube. A smirk tugged at the corner of her lips. "I could tell you all about my parents' interfacing life," she taunted.

"Let's refrain from that one." Treadsmoke let out a nervous chuckle. "Why don't you just… I don't know, tell me a random fact about yourself, anything at all." He said to her, a confident little grin on his face.

"Here's a fact I bet you didn't know: I'm a Predacon." She stated it bluntly. No sugarcoating, no extra preparation. Just said it as though it was a typical statement that was heard everyday.

"Well, now I feel boring, I turn into a standard armored car type vehicle." He replied. "So, a Predacon, hm?" He asked. "Real rarity nowadays." He hoped and prayed his attempt at conversation wouldn't offend her. He was having the time of his life and would hate to ruin it.

She smiled, taking a swig from her cube. "'Armored car type vehicle' is very descriptive." She was teasing him, it was obvious. "And I have yet to meet another Predacon that doesn't instantly want to mount me. Because, oh, wait. They're all male."

Treadsmoke nearly snorted up his drink in a sputtering laugh. "My my," he choked. "Sounds like a very tough go. Is that why you decided to give me a chance?" He asked. "I didn't try and mount you when I first met you?" He joked.

She giggled. "Maybe. Or maybe it's just because you're cute," she answered, kissing his cheek before setting her now empty cube down and standing up. "So we're at MacCadams. There's a dance floor. There's an us. How about we move us to the dance floor?"

Treadsmoke sputtered and coughed once more. "Sweetspark, you are nowhere near overcharged enough to see me dance, nor am I overcharged enough to dance." He laughed.

She hummed a bit, grabbing his servo. "Too bad. Because you get no choice," she said, yanking him to his pedes and over to the crowd of bodies. "Come on!" She said, having to practically yell to be heard over the pounding music. "Everyone's too busy enjoying themselves to notice your awful dancing!" She laughed joyfully, easily melting into the ocean of bots, dancing without a care in the world.

"She'd better be the one…" Treadsmoke mumbled as he joined her, stiffly and awkwardly dancing at first, pumping his servos off beat. "You're sure about this?" He asked.

She laughed, nodding, and then squealed as a mech tossed her into the air. She laughed once more, and the crowd of bodies seemed to be an ocean beneath her, keeping her off of the ground. Servos were supporting every bit of her body, though it wasn't much weight for a Cybertronian so it quite easy, as she lost herself in the joy of being in a crowd.

"Here we go." Treadsmoke mumbled, shuffling his way through the crowd of dancing mechs and femmes to find his date. "Sil!" He called. "Silvy!" He called once more.

"Watch it, bub." A disgruntled mech said as Treadsmoke bumped into him.

"You watch it." Treadsmoke muttered. Silver was already pushing her way back towards Treadsmoke, grabbing his servo as soon as she found him. She was flushed from adrenaline, giggling madly.

"Crowd-surfing is great!" she said, her wings flaring a bit in joy. Her wings just so happened to hit that same mech, who turned once more.

"I said, watch it!" He barked, Treadsmoke sneered and decided enough was enough, as soon as the mech looked away, he took a new form, a form set to strike fear in the spark of any mech or femme on the dance floor.

" _WHY DON'T YOU WATCH IT!_ " He barked in the form of none other than Megatron himself, causing the rude mech to back away in terror. Treadsmoke chuckled as the mech ran off. He then realized something, Silver had never seen him do that before, he turned to her, chuckling nervously as he turned. "Oops?"

Silver was watching him with wide optics, her wings dropped towards the floor. "Y-You can… You can do what Makeshift does?" She asked slowly, staring up at him.

"Yeah…" He nodded. "I don't know, I was forged with it I guess, I generally just use it for my shows, it kills with some crowds." He sighed. "Yeah, I know, go ahead, call me a freak." He looked to the ground, embarrassed.

She simply stayed right where she was for a second before pulling him down to her height, pressing her lips firmly to his. Treadsmoke's optics widened in sheer surprised, then closed, returning the kiss.

After a bit, she slowly pulled away. "Freaks belong together, don't you think?" She breathed, her optics half-shut as she leaned her forehelm against his.

His smile widened and his cheeks flushed red. "Yeah… yeah, they do." He smiled at her.

Yeah, she was the one.

She giggled, pulling him in for another kiss as the music switched tempo, to a more sexy rhythm. She bit her lip, then took his servo in her own. "Dance with me," she said softly, whispering in his audial now.

"I'd want nothing else." He smiled, following her to a spot on the dance floor in which they danced the night away.

* * *

"But that's who she was." Treadsmoke relayed his story to Miko. "She was a wonderful, kind, caring, everloving femme, who I…" He sighed. "I'm never going to see again." He said ruefully, getting up. Miko stood up and followed him as the mech sulked off.

"What happened to her?" She asked.

"Shuttle attack, when we were trying to get away she was sucked into space, never seen again." He sighed.

"But there's a chance she's still alive, somewhere, right?" Miko asked.

"There's a chance about a lot of stuff." Treadsmoke turned. "Sure, I like to believe she's still out there, but..." He sighed. "I believe it less and less each day." Miko looked at the mech, she felt bad for him, she could tell he was hurting, but she had no idea what to do to help him.

"You... you said there was something else wrong?" She asked Treadsmoke.

"Yeah," he nodded. "Bulkhead, Arcee, Bumblebee, and soon to be everyone else thinks I'm insane."

"Why?" She asked. "Remind me."

"Because I attacked... 'Hound'." He said, saying Hound in disdain. "He's not an Autobot, I know it." He spoke up. "I can tell."

"Well... why don't you prove it?" Miko asked. "Find away to prove it... without attacking him for no reason." Treadsmoke looked at Miko and cocked his helm, how was he going to do that? That's when a thought occurred to him. He had an idea. He ran off, a spring back in his step. Miko watched the Autobot who had just been down in the dumps run off giddily and couldn't help but chuckle, were he and Bulkhead somehow related? They seemed so similar.

Swindle, not finally left alone after a briefing from Optimus Prime, milled about the base, mumbling to himself. "Frag, these Autobots are all even dumber than they look. Except for that one bot, luckily those morons all think he's lost it, or else I'd bee in real trouble." Swindle snickered.

/Swindle,/ A voice said in his comm link. A voice he recognized. /Report, Swindle./ It was Starscream.

/Screamy?/ Swindle asked. /What's up?/

/Your mission has been compromised./ Starscream answered. /It's time for you to get out./ Now, any mech with a decent processor would know that truly there was no way for Starscream to know that the mission was compromised, no way for any Decepticon to know that the mission was compromised. But Swindle was not a mech with a decent processor on his shoulders. He knew the art of a deal, but he couldn't figure out a trap to save his spark.

/You will contact Galvatron now to get clearance to return and report any findings./ Starscream answered. /Here is the comm code./ Starscream sent a code through the comm, but this was not the code to Galvatron's comm link, this was a code to another transmission system. A transmission system that would prove Treadsmoke right.

/Got it Screamy, over and out./ Swindle terminated the comm link. "Perfect, I didn't really wanna be on this mission anyway." He muttered, strolling through the corridors more to find a quiet place to report to Galvatron. He ducked inside a duct in the wall and commenced his message.

/Attention Galvatron,/ Swindle spoke into the comm. /Just got word from Starscream to report. All these Autobots are just as stupid as I thought, the only one that caught onto me nobody believed, thought he was loopy!/ He laughed. /Ready to go, boss. Get someone to me soon, over and out./ He sent his coordinates.

His coordinates didn't go to Galvatron, nor did his message. "Starscream" had given him the comm address to the base's public address system, sending his message across base for all of the Autobots to hear. His message caused everybody in base to stop and listen, the only bot not caught off guard by this was Treadsmoke, who said smugly in Teletraan One's room, still in his Starscream facade.

"You sly mech, you." Treadsmoke laughed in Starscream's shrill voice.

Swindle stepped out of the duct and looked around, to his left he saw Optimus Prime and to his right he saw Ultra Magnus, looking at him with hostility in their optics. Swindle chuckled nervously and did his best to continue his Hound facade.

"Optimus, Ultra Magnus." He nodded respectfully. "Beautiful day for a stroll, isn't it? I think I may go take one... outside, far far away." He said, making his way past them and running for the elevator, only to be stopped by Bulkhead, Ironhide, and Treadsmoke.

"How's my buddy Hound doing?" Treadsmoke asked before punching the Decepticon spy square in the visage, knocking him to the floor. Ironhide and Bulkhead picked the mech up and placed cuffs on his wrists behind his back.

"Let go of me!" Swindle snarled as he wriggled and squirmed in the large mechs' grasp, knowing at this point the jig was up. "I'm a Combaticon!"

"That name only carries weight when your buddies are around." Bulkhead grinned.

"And they aren't, so you're slag outta luck." Ironhide nodded. "Yer in luck, you get to be the first mech to try out the base's jail cell." He grinned as he and Bulkhead carried the mech away as he kicked and screamed.

"Good work, Tready." Treadsmoke thought to himself.

"Treadsmoke." Optimus called his name, getting the young bot's attention.

"Uh, yes, sir?" He asked.

"You were the one who orchestrated Swindle's trap?" He asked Treadsmoke, who nodded, a little bit embarrassed of the attention. "Commendable work," Optimus said. "It's cunning and wit like that which we need most." He stepped up to the soldier. "And, I believe Arcee has something she'd like to say to you, Bumblebee as well."

"Treadsmoke, I'm sorry." Arcee apologized. "I'm sorry that we assumed the worst of you."

"Yeah, sorry Treadsmoke." Bee nodded.

"You were smart setting that trap." Arcee said. "I was talking to Ratchet about getting your memories wiped."

"But Treadsmoke, how did you know?" Bumblebee asked him.

"It's like this, really," Treadsmoke explained. "Y'know my little ability I have? Well, because of it, I can automatically detect anyone else doing the same thing, I mean, Swindle used an electronic paint job and a voice modification, but I still saw through it." He explained. "So, while you guys saw 'Hound', all I could see was Swindle. I had the idea to set the trap after talking with Miko, she's a smart kid." He smiled.

"I'm twenty two, man." Miko spoke up.

"Valiant work." Optimus congratulated the mech.

"Good work, Treadsmoke." Prowl walked up to him, his hard expression softening to congratulate his crew member. "I think that Silver would be proud."

"Thanks Prowl." Treadsmoke replied. "Thanks."

"Silver?" Smokescreen asked. "Who's Silver?"

"Smokescreen, he doesn't want to talk about it." Prowl turned to Smokescreen, but Treadsmoke just shrugged.

"No no, it's okay. I'll tell you." He smiled. "We met in the Autobot barracks in Iacon, a long time ago..."

* * *

A week had passed, all was quiet around the Autobot headquarters, chances are the Decepticons were still eager for Swindle's report. All the Autobots did to pass the time was train, converse, and swap stories. Ironhide shared many more stories about the many more times he almost died, and for those who cared to listen, Treadsmoke would occasionally share a story of himself and Silver, looking back didn't make him sad anymore, he was appreciative of the time he had with her, and found it a bit easier to believe she was out there somewhere with his newfound hope.

" _I've looked at clouds from both sides now, from up and down, and still somehow..._ " Treadsmoke hummed as he walked through the base once more, on another stroll to reflect.

/Arcee, Bulkhead, Treadsmoke, and Bumblebee report to Teletraan One./ Ratchet's voice echoed across the base once more.

"Guess my walk will have to wait." Treadsmoke remarked as he strolled to Teletraan One's room, this time arriving before Bumblebee. Grinning smugly at the yellow Autobot as he walked in late. "You're late." He said to Bumblebee.

"I know, I know." Bee said. "What's up, Ratchet?"

"An incoming transmission, an Autobot just landed here." Ratchet said. "Apparently they've been traveling the stars, in search of other Cybertronians for quite some time."

"Sounds like another sting operation." Arcee said skeptically.

"Well, you've got Treadsmoke with you, you'll be able to tell right away." Ratchet replied. "Now, go and see what they want."

The four Autobots took off once more, one hundred and forty seven kilometers due west, opting for a ground bridge due to the length of the trip this time. The four stepped out and saw the crater where the Cybertronian claimed to have landed.

"Here we go again." Treadsmoke approached the site where the signal came from, and when he stepped up to the crater and saw who stood before him, he couldn't believe his optics. There she was, standing there, looking just as beautiful as he had remembered. "S- Ss- Silvy?" He asked.

As soon as she saw him, the femme raced forward, tackling the mech to the ground. "Tready!" She sobbed, hugging him tighter than she ever had before. "Oh my Primus!" She cried, pushing him back just enough to look him over, cradling his faceplate in her servos. "Oh, are you okay?" She asked frantically, checking him for any injuries.

"I am now." He smiled widely. "We looked everywhere for you, I was… I was sure you were gone…" He broke down suddenly. "Silvy, oh Silvy I'm so sorry!" He sobbed. "I tried, I really did, it should have been me on the shuttle that night, not you." He cried, clutching her tightly.

She hugged him tightly, sinking to her knees and holding his helm against her. "Sh," she whispered in his audial. "Baby… Baby, it's okay," she breathed, swaying back and forth with him in her arms. "Sh…"

"How did…" He sniffed a bit, trying to keep his voice from faltering. "How did you get here? We couldn't find you anywhere!" He exclaimed.

She smiled softly, kissing his audial. "My love, I have wings," she reminded, folding them around his body and hers as a type of hug, simultaneously blocking them from view of the others. "I'd fly a million more miles if it meant seeing you happy. Please… Don't cry anymore? It shatters my spark to see you upset."

"The only tears I'm shedding from this moment on are tears of joy, my love." He hugged her tightly. "I'm so… so happy we're finally together once more." He pressed his helm to her shoulder. "You would not believe the day I've had." He remarked, his expression and tone going back to normal, gradually standing with her.

She smiled up at him. That smile was so spark-shatteringly familiar… It made his spark skip a beat every time he saw it: A cute little quirking up of the corner of her lips, so small that if you weren't used to it, you wouldn't see it at all. "There's plenty of time for you to tell me everything that I've missed," she said. "Because I'm never leaving again."

"Wonderful." He smiled at her, his grin embodying everything about him that she held dear: warmth, gentleness, familiarity.

"So Smokey, this your lady friend you were telling us all about?" Bulkhead asked, speaking up. "Name's Bulkhead, Smokey's told me so much about you, all good things of course."

"All _great_ things." Treadsmoke corrected.

Silver giggled, holding her servo out for the large mech to shake. "I have plenty of stories to tell you, too," she said, glancing at her mech with a fond gaze. "You wouldn't believe the kinda scrap that comes out of his mouth when he's love drunk."

"Ehheheh," Treadsmoke blushed, chuckling nervously. "Let's just get back to base first, then story time." He smiled at his femme.

She giggled, pulling him down to her height and kissing him sweetly, smiling the entire time.

"Let's roll out." Treadsmoke said, not breaking his gaze from the femme whom he'd longed for so dearly for all of this time.

She giggled, shoving him playfully. "Don't you be stealing Optimus' lines, now," she teased, only to pull him back in for another kiss.

"I can't help that he's got all the best catchphrases." Treadsmoke replied, taking Prime's form. "For real this time." Optimus' voice spoke through him. "Transform, and roll out."

Silver made a face, stepping back. "Sorry. No kisses until you're my Tready again."

"Change back already, I want to go home." Arcee huffed at Treadsmoke, who just turned to the three, back in original form.

"Y'know what? You three go on back, I don't think I'm quite ready to leave this spot. And when I do, we can take the long way home." He said, his gaze meeting Silver's. Mentioned Predafemme shivered a bit, biting her bottom lip. She stepped into Treadsmoke's arms once more, pressing her cheek to his chassis. "I missed you," she whispered, hugging him tight.

"I missed you too." He hugged her back, the sun beginning to set over them while the others took a ground bridge back to the base. "I love you Silvy, I love you so much."

She clung to him, trembling a bit. "You're mine," she breathed, for his audials only. "You're mine, and I'm never leaving you again, and… a-and I want to bond with you." There it was. A bond was a serious thing, by Cybertronian standards, it was essentially a marriage. The ultimate commitment. Had she said it too early? Did she just ruin everything?

Treadsmoke held her servos, looking into her optics. "It's just like you said, freaks belong together, don't you think?" He chuckled. "Silvy, there's nobody else I would rather bond with, yes. I will bond with you."

She threw her arms around him again, burying her face in his neck. "Good," she whispered, shaking harder than before. "Okay. Okay. You're mine. You're gonna be mine forever."

"Forever and always." He nodded with promise.

She smiled against his neck, kissing the cables softly. "I love you," she breathed.

* * *

 _This chapter took a turn I didn't anticipate when writing it, but frankly I like it better this way. Until next time!_


	5. Episode 5: Not Giving Up

**A/N:** retconning from the last chapter, sorry it's a bit short. The story will pick up from here!

* * *

Episode 5: Not Giving Up

Treadsmoke was happy. So very happy. The femme he loved and had missed for so long was back, she'd finally found him, she was finally there to be with him, to hold him, to love him, he was going to do all the same for her, and they were going to be together forever.

Or so he thought.

That's the funny thing about wanting something bad enough, being so ready to have it, that it'll seem to infect your mind in a way, in a way that would make any potential figment of the imagination seem real. Their encounter felt real, he could feel the world around him, he could feel her, he could see her, he could recognize all the sights and sounds of his base and friends.

But it wasn't real.

Treadsmoke sat up in his berth, and when he looked around and assessed the situation, he was almost furious.

He had dreamed the whole thing.

Silver wasn't back. She wasn't there, there was no distress call, he didn't take a ground bridge out into the desert and found her, embraced her, fell in love with her all over again at a moment's glance, no, it was all too good to be true. She wasn't back, she wasn't here with him, nothing. The only thing about that whole experience that was real was catching that weasel, Swindle.

The mech sighed as he laid back down. "Why would I have even thought it'd be that easy?" He asked. "She's never going to just fall from the sky one day." He rolled over on his side. "Maybe I just need to accept that she's gone and move on with my life." He said to himself. "Maybe." He sighed. He told himself that, but he certainly wasn't ready to do that.

The next day, the Decepticons were up to their old tricks again. More recently they'd taken to attacking oil rigs and the like for energy they'd later distill into energon. Optimus took Arcee, Bumblebee, Smokescreen, Prowl, Whirl, and Treadsmoke to counter attack.

"Tread, buddy, we worked on this, we really thought you were feeling better." Whirl remarked as he and Treadsmoke fired at two Decepticons from their protective barrier. "Even before you got that confidence spike the other day, we talked about this."

"Whirl, no offense, but your advice is terrible." Treadsmoke replied, cursing to himself as his blaster ran out of ammo, he detached one of the smokestacks from his shoulder and whipped it at Thundercracker, clocking the Seeker in the helm. "You told me to overcharge until I forget her. Not only do I really not want to forget her, but overcharging to the state of permanently altering one's memory could kill you." He replied. "I don't wanna end up like Ernest Tubb."

"Who?" Whirl replied.

"Some Earth country singer, his femme left him, and he started driving nails in his coffin since he was drinking over her." Treadsmoke replied. "Gimme that B16 scrapmaker, you're making no good of it." He grabbed one of Whirl's blasters and continued to fire at the Decepticons, most mechs feared Whirl too much to do that, due to the fact Whirl was clinically insane, but between Treadsmoke's lust to be deactivated and the plain and simple fact he and Whirl were buddies meant he was fine with separating the trigger happy mech from one of his blasters.

"Ever since we landed on this planet, you've been even more unbearable." Whirl huffed. "But you're still my... fourth best friend."

"Fourth?" Treadsmoke asked. "Last I checked, I was third."

"Sorry Tread, Miko took your place." Whirl stated.

"Oh, well in that case I completely understand." Treadsmoke nodded. "Whirl, I might leave."

"Go AWOL?" Whirl asked. "Or do you mean in a..." He pressed a blaster to his helm and pretended to pull the trigger, asking if his friend was implying suicide.

"AWOL, I guess is the closest to correct between the two." Treadsmoke replied. "I know she's out there somewhere, and someone has to find her."

"Tread, I just tell you this because I care," Whirl said. "She's either dead, or she's moved on and found someone stronger, smarter, and more of a mech than you... which wouldn't be all that hard."

"I don't believe it." Treadsmoke shook his helm. "She's out there, and she's looking for me. After all, we only ever searched the Cyber-System, she could be in this galaxy for all we know!"

"You're helm over pedes for her, it's kinda stupid. Nobel, but stupid." Whirl told him. "Besides, where are you just going to get a shuttle to go and find her? Prowl certainly isn't going to let you take the delivery shuttle."

"Wheeljack." Treadsmoke answered.

"You think Wheeljack is just gonna let you take his Jackhammer so you can chase some tail?" Whirl laughed. "You're dumber than I thought."

"I don't know if he'll let me, but I know that's the ship I'll be taking." Treadsmoke replied.

"Wow, Tready's got some cajones. I respect that." Whirl remarked. "Best of luck, but I'm not gonna stop Wheeljack when he tears you apart for stealing his shuttle."

"You didn't help me when I had Allicons tearing me limb from limb on Quintessa, so that doesn't surprise me." Treadsmoke murmured.

"That was when they still made spare parts for your build, I knew you were fine." Whirl reasoned. "Woo! Take that, Decepticon!" He barked, shooting Vortex down from the sky, sending the helicopter Decepticon down into the ocean.

"Decepticons, retreat!" Starscream commanded, he had led this attack, under Unicron, Glavatron had taken less and less to entering battle himself, he was paranoid enough while he was Megatron, and combating minds weren't helping. Once the Decepticons had retreated, the Autobots ran back through the ground bridge to base.

"Valiant work, Autobots." Optimus commended his team as they returned. "Try and rest for the remainder of the day, you've earned it." He informed them, and that's when the team dispersed, except for Treadsmoke.

"Hey, 'Cee." He called to Arcee.

"What's up, Tread?" Arcee turned to look at the mech.

"You know where Wheeljack is, par chance?" He asked.

"He's probably working on the Jackhammer, that thing's like his sparkling." Arcee replied.

"Thanks." Treadsmoke nodded, turning and heading for the exit of the base to where Wheeljack kept his precious ship. "Okay, here we go, you're just gonna ask your friend politely to borrow his ship, and if he says no, be understanding." He went over the plan, until suddenly he thought that was the dumbest plan he had ever heard. That was too passive, if he wanted to see her again, he was going to be assertive, clever, and tough, so he thought up another plan.

"How's she lookin, Jackie?" Bulkhead said, stepping up behind Wheeljack as he worked on his ship. Now, something to remember is this was not Bulkhead, this was in fact Treadsmoke in disguise.

"Just cosmetic damage, really." Wheeljack replied, stepping away to face his friend. "Shoulda never let Arcee use it when she was an academy trainer, she doesn't know the first thing about maintaining a shuttle." He huffed.

"I believe it." 'Bulkhead' nodded. "By the way, I was meanin' to tell you, Ratchet's been looking for you, he and Nautica believe they've developed a way to make your grenades reusable, dialing back on the waste of resources." He lied, it probably wasn't the best lie he could've come up with, but Treadsmoke was never the best at thinking up lies.

"Reusable grenades, huh?" Wheeljack asked. "How exactly does that work?" He asked skeptically.

"Well, uhh... the shells are made with a magnetic bond, so when the grenade detonates, the pieces pull back together and rebuild the shell." Treadsmoke quickly explained. "It's a lot more complicated than that, whole lotta what they told me kinda slipped out." He shrugged. Wheeljack looked up at him for a moment, his look of skepticism softened.

"Sounds about right, you never had the best short term memory." He chortled. "Alright, I'll go take a look." He started back to base, after walking about thirty feet, Wheeljack noticed Bulkhead wasn't following. "You coming, Bulk?" He asked.

"Yeah! I just, I'm gonna finish buffing that spot out for you, I'll meet you down there." He lied.

"Thanks pal." Wheeljack grinned. "Don't be too long." He said before taking the elevator platform down into base to see Ratchet. Treadsmoke exhaled a sigh of relief and quickly boarded the shuttle, knowing he had precious little time before Wheeljack found him out.

Wheeljack walked through the base, looking for Ratchet in his usual spot, but he wasn't in his work space, neither was Nautica, that was his first suspicion. When he finally saw Ratchet, he was socializing with Ironhide.

"Hey Doc," Wheeljack said. "You wanted to see me?" Wheeljack asked.

"Huh?" Ratchet asked. "I don't recall asking for you."

"You got some kinda glitch, son?" Ironhide asked.

"What? No, Bulkhead told me..." Then he saw Bulkhead out of the corner of his optics. "Hey, Bulk!" He called, stepping over to his friend, the real Bulkhead, bear in mind. "What's this, some kinda joke? You told me Ratchet wanted to see me."

"No I didn't." Bulkhead replied, tilting his helm. "You okay, Jackie? You're acting kinda like Red Alert." He chuckled.

"You just came up to me while I was working on my ship, told me Ratchet and Nautica were looking for me." Wheeljack replied.

"I've been playing lob with Sideswipe for the past ten nanocycles, what are you talking about?" Bulkhead asked. Wheeljack was suspicious, but what set his suspicions off was when he heard his ship start up. "What in the..." He darted out of the base, Bulkhead following, Whirl noticed this and took off after them too.

By the time the three Wreckers got outside, the Jackhammer was already about a hundred feet in the air, engines prepping for a jump, Treadsmoke jumped when he saw the three Wreckers down below. "Oh boy..." He mumbled. "Sorry! I'll have her back in mint condition! You have my word!" He called as he made the jump, the Jackhammer flying off into space like that.

"Wow, I didn't think he had the bearings." Whirl remarked.

"That son of a glitch." Wheeljack growled.

"I didn't know Smokey was a shuttle pilot." Bulkhead remarked.

"Oh, he's not." Whirl quickly said. "Prowl let him pilot the delivery shuttle _once._ He managed to crash it before we even got out of orbit."

"Did you know about this?" Wheeljack asked.

"He had mentioned something about stealing your shuttle so he could go and find his lone lost femme who he believes is still out there somewhere, but he didn't go into detail." Whirl shrugged as the three went back into headquarters. As they walked in, they noticed agent William Fowler had already heard tell of the shuttle taking off.

"You wanna tell me why one of your guys just flew out of Earth's orbit!?" He hollered at Optimus Prime through the monitor.

"Agent Fowler, I had no prior knowledge of this happening. This was not a premeditated action on anyone's part." Optimus answered.

"Not true!" Whirl spoke up. "My buddy Treadsmoke, the mech who just blasted off told me his whole plan, he stole Wheeljack's shuttle to search for his long lost girlfriend." Whirl informed him. "If you've got a space force or anything, feel free to shoot him down, destroy that shuttle and everything inside."

"Ignore him!" Wheeljack elbowed his friend. "But... yeah, the first half of that is true."

"Treadsmoke went AWOL!?" Ironhide barked. "I told that fragger a thousand times not to go after her, that blasted Pred is gone for good!"

"A Pred?" Fowler asked. "As in, Predacon?" Fowler asked. "That's impossible, they didn't exist until a few years ago."

"The Predacon race existed before Shockwave's technology brought them to Earth, in fact, they existed before the Cybertronians of today, such as myself." Optimus answered. "When our species evolved, we saw the Predacons as primitive beasts, and many of our kind hunted them and forced them underground, which many refer to as the Great Cataclysm, a phenomenon we use to cover up the traces of our genocide which in hindsight we don't look upon proudly. Silver Blaze was one of the last descendants of the original Predacon race, I took her under my wing, having found her as a sparkling." Optimus answered. "She proved to be a valuable warrior and a brilliant asset to our cause, and after the war she joined Ironhide, Prowl, and their team, only to be separated from them after an attack on the shuttle. Nobody has seen or heard from her since." Optimus concluded.

"And she had a thing with the red guy?" Fowler asked. "Well, this is all... interesting information. It will make for a good report."

"Report?" Prowl asked. "Why? She's gone, probably dead. It's useless information." But Fowler had ceased communications before he could reply.

"Weird." Whirl remarked as Fowler's secrecy.

"Permission to go after him in the delivery shuttle?" Wheeljack asked.

"Permission denied." Optimus answered. "We're outgunned enough in our current situation, we don't need another one of our soldiers disappearing on us." He answered. "Arcee, it is your shift to guard the prisoner. Prowl, you will take over Treadsmoke's position as security chief." He instructed. "The rest of you may go about your business." He instructed. "Ratchet, Nautica, keep Wheeljack busy." He ordered.

"Yes sir!" Nautica saluted.

* * *

Fowler stepped through the long hallway of a top secret facility, getting through each doorway and blockade with the appropriate piece of security clearance. Being badge, retinal scan, vocal recognition, or finger print, until he finally got to the agent he was looking for. "Agent Simmons," he addressed the man, binder of reports in hand.

"Yes, Fowler?" The grizzled old agent of Italian descent asked.

"There's been some new information gathered." Fowler informed him. "It's may be that... that thing we discovered may be a bit closer to us than we had assumed." He informed him.

 _To be continued..._


End file.
